Column: Rare treat leads to rationing, hiding sweets

At birthday parties, glass bottles of soda (like yummy cream soda) would be available; otherwise, pop was not purchased to drink on a daily basis.

Candy was an Easter, Halloween, Fourth of July and Christmas treat. Kramer's IGA used to pack your groceries in paper bags and put a small candy bar or two into the bag. I always hoped my parents would buy enough groceries on Friday evening to get candy bars for each of us kids.

I think the main reason I joined Girl Scouts was that after school we would walk to the Abbotsford City Hall for our scout meetings. If a person walked fast enough and "cut through the railroad tracks," there would be enough time to dart into Ben Franklin and make a candy purchase. My favorites were Ice Cubes wrapped in aluminum foil wrappers, caramels and candy necklaces.

Catechism on Wednesdays after school offered another candy-buying opportunity. If one would walk really fast and instead of turning north to go toward St. Bernard's Church, take a detour to the south, you would find Wally's Westside Store. It was a store crammed with some of this and some of that and run, of course, by Wally. I don't know if Wally even had a last name - if he did, I never knew it. There, for a nickel or two, you could get an assortment of candy before hurrying to religion classes.

When I got candy, I did not splurge and eat it all at once. I liked to ration it out and save some for days later. Where in the world would my sweets be safe from my younger siblings? I came up with the idea to keep my candy stash in my underwear dresser drawer.

The dresser my sister and I shared was quite tall, with perhaps five or six drawers. When the drawers were closed, they had to be gently pushed shut or the items on the top would tend to shake or tip.

One would have thought that my youngest brother, Kevin, would have been spoiled and not needed to resort to stealing my candy. That, however, was not the case - at least where candy was concerned.

He always was looking for the candy hiding spots. Soon, he discovered my underwear hideout and my stash of caramels. Alas, he either did not know about shutting the drawer carefully so as not to disturb things on top or was startled by someone coming up the stairs to the bedroom. Over tumbled my First Communion Madonna statue.

After my plaster Mary statue lost her nose, Kevin continued in his sleuthing efforts and managed to break other figurines. He soon earned the nickname of "Statue Breaker."

At least in adulthood he does not try to deny his childhood escapades, as a few years ago he shipped a huge box of caramels to me as a birthday gift.

So, as Christmastime is almost upon us, I look around and see plentiful candy selections lining the store shelves. Gone are the days of hoarding sweets, but the memories of hiding candy, broken-nosed Madonna statuary and caramels remain.

Note: It is rather ironic that Kevin and his family are moving this December to a home in Carmel, Ind. I should be able to remember his new location! Merry Christmas, Statue Breaker.

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Column: Rare treat leads to rationing, hiding sweets

Back in the days of my youth, sweets were a precious commodity.

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